Ambrov X - A Story-Driven Sci-Fi RPG

August 28th, 2013, 13:41

Huh? Sci Fi is far less overdone than Fantasy, that's for sure. I think this looks pretty interesting. let's see what the details on story, systems, and most importantly the funding goal turn out to be. Sure it will "look" lik ME with less funding - but who says it won't "play" like ME with better ideas?

Originally Posted by JDR13
He didn't ask them to name modern games, it just so happens that they did.

My point is that them not naming a 17 year old game says nothing about their credibility - it's an old game and isn'r really relevant. I could just as well question his post since there games other than Albion that he didn't mention

Originally Posted by Grifman
My point is that them not naming a 17 year old game says nothing about their credibility - it's an old game and isn'r really relevant. I could just as well question his post since there games other than Albion that he didn't mention

Beg to differ here,but by them only mentioning modern day sci fi RPGs, speaks a lot about "MY" perception as far as their cred. If "I" don't feel they have a grasp of some of the sci fi RPGs that have preceded AX, "I" am going to find their pitch less compelling. And If "I" find their pitch less compelling, "I" am likely to just watch their Kickstarter campaign instead of participate.

And yes I could have listed more sci fi RPGs. It just so happens
"I" feel that Albion deserved some old school luv. I know they can't make a pitch that appeals to all people but since they brought it up about the dearth of sci fi RPGs, I felt they could have done a better job exploring that absence.

"Epic, MMO-inspired boss fights"? "Cinematic"? "Fully voiced"? "XBOX and PS4"? So basically they need our money because the usual-suspect publishers didn't think their pitch was good enough? Which doesn't surprise me, after watching that video. Loved the part at 4:35: "Give money to us because you haven't heard of us". Also, ugh to the 3-5 hour episodes. Even the console crowd this seems targetted at would balk at that. (I suppose I'd be inclined to wait until all the episodes are released, then buy them and play straight through)

Also, I found no real discussion of gameplay or of the resumes of the guys involved. Not a good sign that they can only name a few RPGs from the last 10 years and then talk about "aggro" at the end as if all they know is MMORPGs.

Thank you all for the lively debate. We definitely appreciate the constructive criticism. There are a number of points here that we feel we could add some clarification to. All of which is addressed on our Kickstarter page, which will launch on September 3rd.

Can you really not name more Sci-Fi RPGs?
Of course we can. And there have been a number of many old-school RPGs throughout the years that we all love, going back to the text-based Space series for the Apple II in 1979. By the way…Our Lead Game Designer's favorite old school Sci-Fi RPG is Buck Rodgers: Countdown to Doomsday, which he still has in the original packaging.

But that's not the point. The point is that there are very few modern (i.e. within the last 5-10 years), fully-voiced, story-driven Sci-Fi RPGs. We believe there should be more.

Aren't GOOD Voice Actors expensive?
Absolutely. It is certainly an added cost. But it IS worth it. You might be surprised by the number of great voice actors out there — incredible talent waiting to do something new — like a video game. Our CEO, has worked with a number of them on a professional level. And we were fortunate enough to have utilized them for the prototype. Certainly, if we sought out the best names in the business we would be paying a premium. Not something feasible for a prototype.

Isn't this just a low budget Mass Effect?
Comparisons are inevitable. Yes, there are similarities. We have branching dialogue. ME has branching dialogue. ME is Science Fiction. Sime~Gen is Science Fiction. Our game universe and story, our game play, our art style, our character creation and even our dialogue is fundamentally different than Mass Effect. We aren't Bioware and we aren't trying to be Bioware…we have our own unique vision for this genre of RPG and that's what we are putting forth. By the way, all the footage in the video is Pre-Alpha, but it IS playable. We WILL be discussing game play in-depth and we WILL be releasing a play through of the prototype on video.

Are you planning to release on all platforms at once?
No. That would be incredibly inefficient if not impossible. For the Q1 2015 release of Ambrov X our focus is entirely on PCs — Windows, OS X, and Linux. After we are confident with that build we then plan to release on PS4 and XBOX only after we have optimized the user experience for those platforms. With the console experience and optimization in place, we plan to optimize for tablets running iOS and Android. All told, it will be a long, staggered release cycle cross-platform. But we feel strongly about releasing on each of those platforms. They may not be our preferred platforms or yours, but others do want to see more RPGs there…if the tech is there and the game plays well, we see no reason NOT to release on those platforms. By the way, our CEO is HUGE PC Gamer and is more likely to play a game on a PC than any other platform.

What is your experience?
Aharon Cagle, our CEO, is an award-winning Creative Director with almost 15 years experience producing games, commercials and digital experiences for some of the worlds most beloved brands— Hasbro, Godiva, Chiquita, Red Robin, etc.

Ben Steel, our Lead Game Designer, has worked on a number of triple A games including Guild Wars 2 (where he was an Event Designer), Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Assassin's Creed Bloodlines and X-Men: Origins Wolverine for the PSP…to name a few. A large majority of our team (12 people) hold degrees from Full Sail University…having spent their careers (from college to working in the industry) focused entirely on producing video games.

Finally, we know we are a new studio. And we have a big fight ahead of us on Sept. 3rd. This is one reason we chose to produce a polished prototype. If you have seen Pre-Alphas before, you know that they can be pretty ugly. We may not make our goal (we actually aren't counting on it) and we do realize how incredibly ambitious this project is. We DO have private investment but we have NOT sought out a single publisher. We have chosen to take this chance on Kickstarter first. If we fail, we will find another way. But at least we tried. And that's as open and honest as we can be.